This I Believe

This post is slightly different from my previous posts and certainly more personal.  One of my assignments this semester is to explore our beliefs as literacy teachers.  The assignment was modeled after the NPR program, This I Believe which ran from 2004-2008 and engaged listeners in a discussion of the core beliefs that guided their daily lives.  
This I Believe
Interestingly, this was taken from the NPR website under the "About" link for This I Believe:
"Teachers around the country—and around the world—have embraced This I Believe as a powerful educational tool. They have downloaded our free educational curricula, posters, and brochures for using This I Believe in middle and high school classrooms and in college courses. These curricula help teachers guide students through exploring their beliefs and then composing personal essays about them. The students learn about themselves and their peers, and experience the delight of realizing their views and voices have value."
Two of my favorite "beliefs":
The Global Dance



Kindergartener Beliefs

And now, one of my own:
I believe in inventive spelling:

“It drives me crazy that I can’t fix their spelling,” the substitute said.

“Excuse me,” I nearly gasped.

She explained, “I know you are not supposed to fix their spelling as they are writing a piece.  But I mean after they have finished writing.  When they are publishing, I think I should teach them the correct way to spell the words.”

“Um, well, there are many benefits to children spelling phonetically.  One is that it strengthens the relationship between letters and sounds. And…”

“Look. I taught for X number of years in this school.  It drove me crazy then and it drives me crazy now.  Children need to correctly spell the words when they are finished writing, otherwise it will be stuck in their head and they will make the same spelling mistakes over and over again.”

I realized that she was not only trying to get me to agree with her.  She wanted me to cross over to her side, the dark side, and advocate dictionary spelling among young authors.  I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t do it.  As much as I tried to explain the benefits of inventive spelling, she wasn’t willing to listen.  In the end, I just shrugged my shoulders and walked off.  Now, I wish I could forward this belief piece directly to her front door.

Inventive spelling is among a child’s first steps as a writer.  It is developmentally appropriate for a child to listen to the sounds of words, stretch out the word, and write the sound they hear.  By practicing inventive spelling, students become independent writers and do not need to rely on the teacher or a dictionary in order to write.  Inventive spelling validates students’ knowledge about the alphabetic principle and allows students to play with language while experimenting with known spelling patterns.  Furthermore, students eventually learn the dictionary spelling of words and do not learn to spell words “incorrectly”.  In fact, students are more inclined to learn through a trial and error process rather than from copying words from a dictionary.  Inventive spelling also allows students to write more words than they know how to read, thus, can be encouraged to write with more interest and complexity.

            In fact, the study of the history of the English language is actually quite fascinating.  Why do we spell words the way we do?  Why don’t we spell them the way they sound?  Linguists believe there are many characteristics to the ways in which words are spelled: orthographic, syllabic, alphabetic, and morphemic.  These are combined into three different layers of information: alphabetic, pattern, and meaning (Templeton and Morris, 1999).  When you think about it, that is a lot of new information for a new writer to learn and understand.  The development of this understanding takes place over time and depends largely on- a personal favorite of mine- meaningful reading and writing experiences.  “As with any other type of learning, learning about the spelling of words is conceptual learning and proceeds from a more concrete to a more abstract level of understanding and analysis” (Templeton and Morris, 1999).  You wouldn’t expect Billy to join the Yankees after one year of little league, would you?  Then, why would you expect a child to spell words using the dictionary spelling without a strong concept of alphabetic principal?  Patience.  Eventually, through meaningful reading and writing experiences, students will progress to more sophisticated forms of spelling and be able to recognize advanced spelling patterns and interpret meaning. 

            Finally, “teachers can assess students’ application of their spelling knowledge by examining the students’ writing.  This also provides information about what students are using but confusing and therefore need to study” (Templeton and Morris, 1999). Therefore, I urge teachers to have patience and encourage students to listen to the sounds within the word and concentrate strengthening the relationship between sounds and letters.  You will be able to gather a wealth of information and document their progress as a writer and a speller merely by reading their writing and making notes along the way. If teachers required their students to correct these spellings by copying words from a dictionary, this rich insight into their spelling knowledge would be lost.